Generally, a refrigerator, an appliance for storing food at a low temperature, stores foods in a freezing manner or a cooling manner depending upon foods to be stored.
Currently, the refrigerators have been large and multifunctional according to various demands of users and changes of dietary life of them. Such refrigerator generally has a dispenser for discharging out purified water or ice cubes without opening a door thereof.
The dispenser is generally formed at the door of the refrigerator and is manipulatable in various manners. An exemplary dispenser in the related art is shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a side section view schematically showing an operation state of a dispenser for a refrigerator in the related art. Referring to FIG. 1, a dispenser 10 includes a dispenser casing 11 and a deco cover 12.
The dispenser casing 11 forms a shape of an inner side of the dispenser 10. The dispenser casing 11 is concaved toward the inside of the refrigerator door by a specific depth so that a space for receiving a cup (C) or a container similar to the cup for receiving water or ice cubes therein may be formed.
The deco cover 12 is disposed at a front side of the dispenser casing 11 so as to form an external appearance of the dispenser 10 by partially shielding a front surface of the dispenser casing 11.
The deco cover 12 is provided with an opening corresponding to the space of the dispenser casing 11. Through the opening, the cup (C) for discharging out water and ice cubes is taken in and out.
The dispenser casing 11 has an upper middle portion provided with a discharge outlet 13 for downwardly supplying purified water or ice cubes.
And, a manipulation lever 14 is formed at a middle portion of an inner side surface of the dispenser casing 11. The manipulation lever 14 serves to manipulate an operation of the dispenser 10 and is configured to determine whether the discharge outlet 13 is to be opened or closed depending on user's manipulation.
The manipulation lever 14 has an upper end coupled to one side of the dispenser casing 11 or the dispenser 10 by a hinge.
Thus, if the user pushes the manipulation lever 14 with using the cup (C), a lower portion of the manipulation lever 14 may be rotated in a clockwise direction by a specific angle. According to the rotation of the manipulation lever 14, a switch (not shown) that is separately provided is selectively operated. Hence, purified water and/or ice cubes are contained in the cup (C).
However, the related art has the following problems.
First, the upper end of the manipulation lever 14 is coupled to an upper end of the dispenser casing 11 or one side of an upper portion of the dispenser 10 by a hinge. Thus, if the upper end of the manipulation lever is pushed by the cup (C), the manipulation lever 14 may not be rotated. Accordingly, water or ice cubes may not be discharged out.
Second, a torsion spring is fitted at a hinge coupling shaft of the manipulation lever 14 so as to restore the manipulation lever 14 after completing discharging of water or ice cubes. However, the manipulation lever 14 may not be restricted to rotate in a counterclockwise direction after completion of the restoration, accordingly a position where the manipulation lever 14 is restored may not be constant.